National Security and Foreign Policy Should not be a Part of Local Politics

The continuing controversy over the Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal cannot be ignored. Hope the government remembers the battle between President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe over the UNP’s agreement with New Delhi to handover the ECT to the nuclear armed neighbour that has been behaving often like a bully towards our country, from the time of the JRJ’s regime. May be Mrs. Indira Gandhi was justified in her behaviour at the time as Junius Richard Jayewardene, dubbed Yankie Dicky, because of his open admiration and support for the USA, having even wanting to give Trincomalee to Washington, while India, at the time, was firmly in the Non-Alignment Camp, but seen by the West as being more pro- Soviet Union.

Subsequently, Japan was also brought into the ECT agreement. Recent protests at the Colombo harbour revealed discontent and suspicions among various trade unions over the incumbent government’s intentions. The crisis at the Colombo port should naturally be discussed, taking into consideration the rushed ‘illegal’ agreement between Sri Lanka and China as there’ll be no further discussions on the 99-year agreement, finalized in 2017.

With China aiming high, the US-India-Japan coalition is likely to pursue what can be described as their containment or ganging up policy against Beijing in respect of Sri Lanka and elsewhere in Asia. Finalized ACSA (Access and Cross-Servicing Agreement), as well as MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) and SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) sought by the US, are grim reminders of entanglements waiting to happen that could prove to be extremely beyond the country’s capacity to handle in the days to come for want of consensus among political parties, represented in parliament, without the government having a sound majority there.

 National security and foreign policy shouldn’t be part of the political agenda as the government and the Opposition battled for control of parliament, which the former Justice Minister once called the most corrupt institution in the country and to this day he has not retracted one bit.